


Under the Stars

by mangochi



Series: Last Night [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:52:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangochi/pseuds/mangochi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim proposes and Leonard panics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Stars

Leonard didn’t mean to find the ring.

He’s at Jim’s apartment when it happens _ **-**_ though at this rate, it’s really _their_ apartment, he thinks ruefully. His socks are already mixed with Jim’s, half the closet filled with his slacks and dress shirts, his favorite brand of coffee next to Jim’s on the kitchen counter and his own drawer of extra toothbrushes and toiletries in the bathroom.

Going on one year now, Leonard figures it’s only a matter of time before he officially moves in. He’s searching for his missing shirt in Jim’s half of the closet when he sees the lump in the inner pocket of one of Jim’s suit jackets and frowns, wondering if Jim’s forgotten to take something out.

And then he takes out the little blue box and stares at it, and his mind goes completely blank.

 _Oh my God_ , is his first thought, followed by, _Fuck, now what_?

In the end, he puts the box back in the jacket pocket without looking inside, and spends the rest of the hour lying face-up on Jim’s bed in shock.

He’s not completely surprised, he supposes. It’s a natural move between couples after this length of time, nothing weird or strange about it at all, if it isn’t for the fact that he somehow never expected this to happen to _them_.

Leonard’s been married once before; he knows the drill all too well. The honeymoon period will be spectacular and filled with ridiculous amounts of sex, and he’s already getting a little hot and bothered just imagining spending days on end with Jim in a bed somewhere warm and sunny.

But then routine will set in, they’ll keep going to their jobs and come home late, sometimes go to sleep alone while the other’s pulling night hours at the hospital. It’ll be okay at first, but then the distance will appear, extended silences nudging them apart without them knowing it until one day, Jim will wake up and realize this isn’t what he wants. That Leonard’s not the one he wants.

He hears the door open and the sound of Jim whistling in the distance, snatches of pop songs he probably heard on the radio that keep devolving into tuneless notes when he forgets the rest. “Bones, you home?” Jim calls, and Leonard forces himself to sit up and smile when Jim appears in the doorway.

"Welcome home," he says, watching as Jim drops his briefcase in the corner and sheds his heavy winter coat with a shrug. He turns towards the closet to hang it up and Leonard feels an irrational burst of panic. He’s on his feet before he knows what he’s doing, crossing the room and throwing himself against Jim’s back, wrapping his arms around Jim’s waist and feeling his nose press against wind-chilled skin.

"Hey," Jim chuckles, reaching for a coat hanger, and Leonard tugs him backwards. The coat falls to the floor, Leonard’s knees hit the bed, and they go down with a startled yelp from Jim and a great deal of confused flailing.

When the metaphoric dust settles, Leonard’s straddling Jim and pressing him down into the bed, the both of them slightly flushed from the exertion and more than a little turned on.

"You’re…..lively today," Jim comments breathlessly, and Leonard grunts, plucking impatiently at the buttons of Jim’s shirt. "Something on your mind?"

"No," Leonard says shortly, and he lays a trail of biting kisses along Jim’s exposed collarbone, warming the cold skin with his lips and tongue. Jim hums happily, his hands coming up to run through Leonard’s hair and teasing it into messy spikes.

"What’s the occasion?" Jim groans, his abdomen twitching when Leonard’s tongue probes at his bellybutton, and Leonard presses his face against the curve of Jim’s hipbone, just breathing him in.

"No reason," he finally says, pulling Jim’s belt free with a soft slithering sound and dropping it on the floor. "Just missed you, is all."

"I went to buy juice," Jim says slowly, like he senses there’s a deeper problem here, but can’t quite figure it out.

Leonard thinks fast and ends up swallowing Jim down til he feels coarse hair tickling against his nose, and that shuts Jim up fast.

"Shit," Jim says instead, fast and incredulous as Leonard holds him down and swallows again and again. "Fuck, _fuck_ , Bones-“

Leonard pulls off with a slurp, licks the corner of his mouth deliberately as he glances up at Jim, then slides his lips over the head of Jim’s cock again, taking his time.

The muscles in Jim’s neck jump and strain as he cranes his head to watch Leonard, his own lips parted unconsciously as Leonard tongues lightly at the underside of his cock, closing his mouth just enough for Jim to feel the gentle pressure of his teeth.

"Bones," Jim whispers, awed, and he reaches down to cup a shaky hand against Leonard’s cheek, thumbing at the bulge resting beneath it. " _Bones_ ,” he says, one last time, before Leonard sucks hard and Jim comes faster than a bullet train.

Leonard manages to catch most of it in his mouth, wiping the drops he missed from his chin as he raises his head and meets Jim’s dazed eyes, making sure he’s looking before he swallows.

"Fuck," Jim says reverently, reaching up to pull Leonard down and lick away his own taste from Leonard’s tongue. "So fucking hot," he mumbles, spreading his legs to accommodate Leonard’s body. "Fuck me, Bones," he orders, and Leonard’s cock jumps eagerly in his pants. They don’t switch too often, and they’re both perfectly happy with the arrangement, but when Jim asks him to with those pleading eyes and wrecked voice-

"Yeah," Leonard croaks, the ring almost forgotten in his haste as he strips, reaching down to help divest Jim of his remaining clothing before pushing it all into a pile over the edge of the bed.

Jim tosses him the lube and Leonard catches it onehandedly, grinning like an idiot as he kneels between Jim’s thighs and pops the cap.

Jim wriggles up the bed in anticipation, letting his knees fall to the side as he cocks an eyebrow and reaches down, holding his cock and balls out of the way when Leonard leans over him, stroking over his stomach with slick fingers.

"Gross," Jim says, but his mouth twitches against Leonard’s and he sighs when the first finger presses in. "That’s it, Bones, come on…."

"Yeah, Jim, I hear ya," Leonard says, frowning concentration as he nudges his finger deeper and crooks it just so….

"Ah!" Jim bucks against him, laughing breathlessly. "Fuuuuuck, yes-"

Leonard soon adds another finger, fumbling down to squeeze the base of his cock when Jim clenches beautifully around him, moaning and writhing and pushing his hips back to fuck himself on Leonard’s fingers. “Bones,” Jim eventually gasps, his eyes glazed over and his face flushed. His cock’s half-hard again, curving against his stomach, and Leonard wraps his fingers loosely around it.

"You ready, darlin’?" he murmurs, knowing the answer before he even asks, and he’s reaching for the lube to slick himself up even as Jim nods frantically. They both gave up condoms six months ago, and nothing compares to the sensation of Jim fully inside him, hot and bare and so alive that Leonard swears he can feel Jim’s heartbeat.

When Leonard finally presses inside, both of them moan so loudly that Leonard thinks briefly of the neighbors, and then he forgets about them when Jim wraps his arms and legs around Leonard tightly, and _whimpers_.

"Jim," Leonard chokes out, panting against Jim’s skin as he pulls out slowly, slams back in again. He builds up a fast, hard rhythm, wants to fuck Jim until he forgets his own name, until he forgets about marrying Leonard, because even as the thought fills him with wild and intangible joy, he knows all too well how quickly that joy can sour and fester and just like that, he’ll lose the most important thing in his life again.

“Jim,” he says again, and he doesn’t realize he’s crying until he tastes his own tears. Jim doesn’t notice, his own eyes clenched shut as he rides out Leonard’s pace, his cock hard and wet against his stomach. “Love you,” Leonard gasps, thrusts in one last time and feels himself falling apart. “Love you, Jim- fuck, love you so much-“

Jim groans a broken approximation of Leonard’s name, his hand scrambling between them to grip his own cock, and then he’s coming in fast, hard spurts, tightening around Leonard agonizingly.

Leonard’s shaking when he pulls out, and he buries his face against Jim’s chest, feels Jim’s hand stroking drowsily through his hair.

"You did good," Jim murmurs, dropping messy kisses against the top of Leonard’s head. "So good, Bones…"

Leonard closes his eyes, tells himself it’s true, and lets Jim hold him until he falls asleep.

………………..

Ridiculous amounts of sex, Leonard realizes after that, is one good way to guarantee a complete distraction from even the possibility of Jim popping the question.

Whenever Jim looks at him strangely, his mouth open like he’s about to frame the words Leonard’s most dreading, Leonard grabs him and kisses him and before long, they’re going at it on the nearest flat surface.

It’s the first time Leonard was ever fucked against a wall, and his thighs burn deliciously at the end of it when Jim sets him down and proceeds to lick his own come out of Leonard’s hole.

They fuck on the kitchen counter, in the shower, against the front door, and on one memorable experience, in the hot tub.

It’s all fantastic, and each time leaves Leonard feeling a little worse. He checks the suit jacket every night, until one day the box is gone and Leonard feels his stomach plummet to the floor.

"Jim," he says, exiting the bedroom, and finds the apartment empty. "What the…."

After some active investigation, he discovers a note on the counter and scowls at it. “The hell is he on the roof for?”

It’s cold enough to warrant a coat, and he bundles up before leaving the flat and trudging up the stairs to the rooftop. It’s a flat, open space with a metal grate surrounding the edges to discourage any untoward thoughts, a couple of hopscotch squares chalked in the corners by some of the kids in the building, and standing in the middle of it is Jim.

Leonard lets the metal door shut with a loud clang and watches as Jim turns towards him.

"Heya, Bones."

"What’s this?" Leonard asks, approaching him slowly, and Jim points up.

Leonard gives the night sky a cursory glance and shrugs. “So?”

"Told you I’d take you to the stars, didn’t I?" Jim asks, grinning. "Or, as close as I can get, anyway."

Leonard looks at him, and he’s so beautiful that Leonard could cry. “Jim….”

"Figured it’s as good a time as any," Jim says, before he drops to one knee, reaching for Leonard with one hand and his pocket with the other. Leonard sucks in a sharp breath, his heart pounding dangerously at the sight of the blue box.

“ _Jim_.”

"Marry me, Leonard," Jim says, and Leonard feels a pang at the sound of his name.

"Don’t," he hears himself say, and Jim’s eyebrows furrow together confusedly.

"What?"

“Don’t ask me to do this,” Leonard says, his voice shaking towards the end. He tries to pull his hand away, but Jim holds on without seeming to realize it.

"Bones, what-"

"Aren’t you happy like this?" Leonard blurts helplessly. He drops to his knees to face Jim, grabs onto his arm desperately. "Just us, together. We don’t need some certificate saying it, all we need is-"

"I want to marry you," Jim says slowly, and oh God, he sounds so hurt. Leonard blinks back frustrated tears and squeezes Jim’s hand, willing him to understand, to get why Leonard can’t possibly lose him to another failed relationship. "Don’t you want me?"

"God, yes," Leonard says fervently. "Of course I do, Jim, I just-" he cuts himself off, his voice wobbling despite his best efforts at keeping it steady. "I can’t lose you," he says tearfully.

Comprehension slides gradually across Jim’s face, and Leonard glances away in humiliation. Fuck, he has to seem like an idiot, and he opens his mouth to say as much when Jim seizes him and yanks him closer, kissing him fiercely.

It’s a kiss to end all kisses, like something right out of a fucking fairy tale, if fairy tales included cold rooftops and aching knees and the feeling of a metal band being slipped onto Leonard’s finger.

"You won’t," Jim whispers, allowing the space of a breath between them when Leonard makes a noise of protest. "You won’t lose me, Bones," he says, and he kisses Leonard again under the stars. "Marry me?"

Leonard kisses him back, his heart surging, leaping, wrapping an arm around Jim’s neck to hold him close and keep them warm against the encroaching night. “Yes,” he says, and he says it again and again until Jim laughs and pulls them both to bed.

That night, Jim worships him with lips and tongue, tracing every inch of his body with serious intent. Leonard arches off the bed at every pass of Jim’s tongue against his balls, sliding under to probe at his hole and lick deep inside of him.

"Jim," Leonard gasps, clawing at the sheets. He can’t seem to draw enough air into his lungs, the sight of Jim’s blue eyes glancing up at him sucking all the oxygen from the room, and Leonard curses when Jim presses a finger in him alongside his tongue, teasing him to the point of agony.

And then it’s gone, just as Leonard dances on the edge of ecstasy, and he crashes back down with a frustrated moan.

"I’ve got you," Jim reassures him, rolling Leonard over onto his stomach and nudging his legs apart with a knee. "I’ve got you, Bones, I swear. Not letting go."

He’s still as big as ever, and Leonard muffles his voice against a pillow as Jim eases inside, hooking his arms under Leonard’s shoulders and pinning him in place as he fucks in and out slowly.

"That’s it, that’s it, Bones. You’re taking it so well…..God, I love you," Jim mumbles senselessly against the back of his neck. Leonard relishes Jim’s weight on his back, the pressure in his ass, his cock, his chest, and he groans for more.

Jim looses an endless stream of mingled filth and affection in his ear as he slows his thrusts and speeds them up again, keeps Leonard on the edge so long that he feels like he’s losing his mind, like he’s flying.

He catches a glimpse of the ring on his finger just before he comes, a flat gold band that’s not too shiny, not too new, just like the two of them, and then the world whites out.

He hears Jim coming with a low moan, his hips shuddering against Leonard’s once, twice, and a muted spark of pleasure trails up his exhausted body at the wet heat filling him up. When Jim moves to pull away, Leonard reaches back and grasps his hips, keeping Jim inside him.

"Just a bit longer," he murmurs, tasting his own sweat on the fabric of the pillowcase when he turns his face, and Jim pauses for a moment before carefully rolling them on their sides, still pressed up behind Leonard with his softening cock inside.

"Gonna get hard again at this rate," Jim mumbles, his hand finding Leonard’s and playing absently with his ring.

"By all means," Leonard slurs, already well on his way to slipping off to the best sleep he’s had in days, "don’t let me stop you."

"I love you," he thinks he hears one last time, Jim’s fingers squeezing around his, and when he falls asleep, it’s with the notion that forever might be worth the risk.


End file.
